Leadership lived: Nursing student becomes a leader on the UIS campus

Darlene Steinkamp has a passion for caring for people. That’s why she came to the University of Illinois Springfield her sophomore year as a pre-nursing major. She then applied and was granted admission to the University of Illinois at Chicago’s (UIC) Springfield Regional Campus bachelor of nursing program her junior year.

“Everything we do is at UIS,” she said. “Our classes are at UIS, our professors are at UIS. We do clinical at Memorial Hospital in Springfield.”

As a senior in the UIC Nursing Program, Steinkamp has been very involved on the UIS campus. She is the co-founder and vice president of Legion of Ladies, a student organization created to empower women on campus. The organization is now in the process of possibly becoming a chapter of the Tri Sigma sorority.

“I saw this opportunity and I knew I always wanted to be in a sorority,” she said. “I knew since I was younger. Last August, we started with 13 girls in my townhouse and you know we were kind of packed in there, but now we’re at 39 members.”

On campus she is also the social chair of the Student Nurses Association and works as a student ambassador for UIS Admissions where she helps prospective students learn about the University.

Steinkamp credits her success in the classroom to the small class sizes and hands-on instruction that she receives as a student in the UIC Nursing Program.

“Our instructors really care how we’re doing and what we’re doing. They want to help us,” she said. “It’s really hard course work, but at the end of the day you push yourself harder and also when you’re learning you apply it to clinicals.”

Following graduation with her bachelor’s degree in nursing, Steinkamp plans to apply for the doctor of nursing practice program that is part of the Springfield Regional Campus. She hopes to one day become a nurse practitioner.

“Nursing is all about being a leader,” she said. “You know, taking charge, being the person to be able to make a decision and I’ve really honed my leadership skills here at UIS.”